Thread by @BlackSocialists

Here is a thread of highlights from an iconic speech given by the first Black Socialist of America, Peter H. Clark.

The speech is titled, “Socialism: The Remedy for the Evils of Society.”

This man said this in 1877, y’all. 1877.

“Machinery and land will, in time, take the same course, and cooperation instead of competition will be the law of society. The miserable condition into which society has fallen has but one remedy, and that is to be found in Socialism.”

“Observe how ... communities pass from a condition of ... prosperity to ... depression and distress. Observe how continually these fluctuations occur; how the intervals between them grow shorter; how each one is more violent than the last, the distress produced more widespread.”

“The so-called periods of prosperity are more properly periods of unrestrained speculation. Money accumulates in the hands of the capitalists... This abundance tempts men to embark in business enterprises which seem to promise rich returns.”

“It is folly to say that a condition of poverty is a favorable one, and to point to men who have risen to affluence from that condition. For one man who is strong through the hindrances of poverty, there are ten thousand who fail.“

“So alarming has been the spread of ignorance and poverty in the past generation, that whole cities in our land whose states, indeed are at the mercy of an ignorant rabble who have no political principle except to vote for the men who pay the most on election days...”

“Many wise men, learned in political economy, assure us that their doctrines ... will result in a greater production of wealth and a more equal division of the same. But as I have said before, there is but one efficacious remedy proposed, and that is found in Socialism.”

“We get rid of the king, we get rid of the aristocracy, but the capitalist comes in their place, and in the industrial organization and guidance of society his little finger is heavier than their loins.”

“Already our capitalists rush to invest ... at 4.5% in markets which a short time since gave readily 2% a month. Increase your volume ... and we enter on the career ... with a certainty that the gulf at the end is deeper and more hopeless than the one in which we now wallow.”

“Trades unions, Grangers, Sovereigns of Industry, cooperative stores and factories are alike futile. They are simply combinations of laborers who seek to assume toward their own unfortunate fellows who are not members the attitude that the capitalist assumes toward them.”

“Future accumulations of capital should be held sacredly for the benefit of the whole community. Past accumulations may be permitted to remain in private hands until, from their very uselessness, they will become a burden which their owners will gladly surrender.”

“Machinery controlled in the interests of labor would afford that leisure for thought, for self culture, for giving and receiving refining influences, which are so essential to the full development of character. ‘The ministry of wealth’ would not be confined to a few...”

“Every drop of water we draw from hydrants, the gas that illumines our streets at night, the paved streets upon which we walk, our parks, our schools, our libraries, are all outgrowths of the Socialistic principle. In that direction lies safety.”

“There is no need for violent counsels or violent deeds. If we are patient and wise, the future is ours.”

Things to note:

• His critique of cooperatives was that they weren’t being developed politically and were thus structured to fail.

• He was not saying that mere use of the commons is “socialist,” but pointing out that us building around them comes out of socialist principles.